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USA TODAY

Bob Odenkirk has a lot to be grateful for.
He’s alive, for one thing, following a scary heart attack in July 2021 that saw Twitter turn into a collective prayer vigil while awaiting news of his recovery. But even if his ticket had been punched, he’d still have been one lucky dude, judging by his new memoir, Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama.
It’s not every man that gets to work with the greatest comedic talents of his generation to become a beloved fringe sketch comedian, with HBO cult classic Mr. Show, and then a four-time-Emmy-nominated actor for a career-redefining role as Jimmy McGill, aka Saul Goodman, in Breaking Bad and its spin-off series, Better Call Saul.
“It’s kind of crazy. It’s one of the reasons to write the book,” Odenkirk says.
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His memoir makes for an interesting career retrospective, considering said career is still very much in full swing: he is fresh off turning into an action film star in 2021’s bloody Nobody and heading into the sixth and final season of Better Call Saul, which will premiere in the US on April 18.
The way Odenkirk writes it, his success was as much the result of dumb luck as hard work. And for all of his talent, what quickly becomes clear reading his memoir is no man is an island, especially not in Hollywood.

The list of world-class comedic talents he’s worked with is staggering: David Cross, Conan O’Brien, Jack Black, Ben Stiller, Judd Apatow and Janeane Garofalo are just a few of the names dropped in Odenkirk’s book as he examines the arc of his blessed career.
“Sometimes when people give me too much credit for my career or the things I’ve been a part of, I suggest that maybe I’m a little more Forrest Gump than I am this operative element in all this wonderful stuff,” Odenkirk says. “I’m a guy who just happened to be in the picture frame at the same time.”
Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama is often a very funny read. But it’s easy to see how Odenkirk’s sometimes mordant, self-deprecating humour could have read mournful had he not recovered from the heart attack that felled him on the set of Better Call Saul last year.
I did not think [Saul] was special in Breaking Bad
Bob Odenkirk
Odenkirk says he knew as early as 2018 that he had plaque build-up in his “widow-maker” artery, but that conflicting advice from two different doctors convinced him not to start medication right away.
“The reason I even went to a second doctor was the first doctor was not very forthcoming,” Odenkirk says. “He wouldn’t consult about it, he wouldn’t talk about the medication, he wouldn’t talk about my condition. He was a person who, from my estimation, was tired of being a doctor.”
Odenkirk says that while he was told of the outpouring of love online at the time of his heart attack, he missed it completely. “I don’t have any memory from the first week and a half,” he says. “I don’t remember being in the hospital at all.”
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Odenkirk was in a professional rough patch when a Breaking Bad script crossed his desk in 2009 at the end of a string of misfires and missed opportunities.
Years earlier, he’d auditioned for (and just missed out, he was told) on getting the part of Michael Scott in NBC’s remake of The Office, which went to Steve Carell. Then came a succession of box-office bombs with Odenkirk behind the camera for broad comedies Let’s Go to Prison (2006) and The Brothers Solomon (2007). A sloppy rehearsal got him canned from a part on Will & Grace.
He was struggling financially and had taken a loan to keep the roof over his family’s head when he was given a script for a show he’d never seen.
He called a friend to ask if he’d ever seen Breaking Bad. His reaction helped seal the deal: “Are you kidding me? Breaking Bad is the best show on TV! You’ve got to say yes!”
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Saul was only meant to stick around for a handful of episodes. But something clicked when filming started. Odenkirk writes that after they filmed Saul’s first scenes, a crew member on set shouted, “Can I get a job on the spin-off?!”
“And everybody laughed,” Odenkirk writes.
“I did not think [Saul] was special in Breaking Bad,” Odenkirk says of his now-signature character.
But like any good bottom-feeder, Saul stuck around and survived the meth labs and mayhem of Breaking Bad. As the series wrapped, the idea of a Saul-fronted spin-off suddenly wasn’t so laughable. Still, when creators Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould approached Odenkirk with the offer, he was sceptical of Saul’s appeal as a protagonist.
“The first thing I said to Peter and Vince is you’ve got to make him likeable if you want to write a show about him, because I didn’t think he was likeable. I thought they’d be insulted because I knew they liked the character, but they weren’t. They understood what I meant,” Odenkirk says. “I did grow to like him a lot more than when I started.”
What next for Hong Kong’s former go-to Cantonese-speaking white actor?
Odenkirk grew close enough to Saul that he isn’t quite ready to let go of the wisecracking louche with a heart of (very tarnished) gold, though filming wrapped in early February.
“I haven’t said goodbye to him. It’s going to take me a couple months to realise that’s ended. It’s just strange,” Odenkirk says.
“Without giving anything away, the ending is awesome,” he adds. “The journey, and where it went to, is very satisfying to me.”


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TV shows and streaming video

Breaking Bad’s Bob Odenkirk on new memoir, Better Call Saul season 6, his heart attack and why he’s like Forrest Gump

Breaking Bad star Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman in Better Call Saul. Photo: Courtesy of AMC

A scene from Better Call Saul Season 3. Photo: Courtesy of AMC

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Donnie Yen as Ip Man in a still from Ip Man 3 (2015).

Donnie Yen in a still from Ip Man 4: The Finale. Yen talks to the Post about respecting Bruce Lee and the film that “almost jeopardised my career”. Photo: Mandarin Motion Pictures

Actor Donnie Yen, pictured in 2017. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Yuen Woo-ping (left) and Donnie Yen on the set of Ip Man 4. Photo: Instagram/@movieipman4

Donnie Yen in a still from Tsui Hark’s Seven Swords (2005).

Donnie Yen (left) and Sammo Hung in a still from Ip Man 2 (2010).

Donnie Yen as Monkey King in The Monkey King (2014), directed by Soi Cheang.

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Chinese actress Fan Bingbing is set to make her K-drama debut with the series Insider, according to the latest K-drama casting news. Photo: Instagram.

Fan Bingbing is back after four years off to appear in her first K-drama. Photo: Instagram/@bingbing_fan

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Books


Odenkirk’s book details his path from sketch comedian working with the likes of Ben Stiller and Jack Black to Emmy-nominated actor for his role as Saul Goodman
‘The ending is awesome,’ he says of the final season of Better Call Saul, but he’s not ready to say goodbye to his character just yet



Odenkirk’s new book details how he went from fringe sketch comedian to Emmy-nominated actor for his role as Saul Goodman, and why he isn’t quite ready to let go of the character yet.


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